Tenants at the Robert E. Lee earn 60% or less of the area’s median income, making it one of downtown’s few low-income apartment buildings. Credit: Shutterstock / JustPixs

Tenants at downtown’s Robert E. Lee Apartments, fearing displacement and homelessness, are organizing and gearing up for battle with San Antonio real estate developer Weston Urban.

Weston Urban in August offered $4.35 million to buy the historic, century-old building with an unfortunate name, according to a letter the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs sent to some Robert E. Lee tenants. The offer exceeds the property’s appraised value by $2 million.

Although Weston Urban hasn’t placed an official bid on the 72-unit building as of press time, tenants allege that the building’s current owners, RELEE Partners LP and JHM Financial Group LLC, are trying to expedite the removal of the tower’s low-income renters by making it more difficult for those on government benefits to pay rent.

“People are having panic attacks, they’re having anxiety attacks,” founder of the newly formed Robert E. Lee Tenants Union Megan Navarro told the Current. “People are pacing the halls because of stress, and stress is a killer. Displacement is violence.”

Tenants also maintain that the Rober E. Lee’s management has engaged in union busting tactics in an attempt to prevent tenants from organizing against Weston Urban’s bid.

Officials with the Robert E. Lee’s ownership and management were unavailable for comment by the Current’s press time. Weston Urban officials also were unavailable for comment at press time.

Compounding the anxiety, Robert E. Lee residents are witnessing the eviction of tenants at the Soap Factory Apartments, another downtown apartment complex owned by Weston Urban, Navarro added.

Weston Urban bought the Soap Factory, a rare example of low-cost housing inside the urban core, in August 2023. Now, the apartments are set for demolition to make way for a new $160 million baseball stadium.

Several tenants at the Soap Factory have told the Current they fear they’ll end up on the streets if their home is razed.

“I saw how they were treated, and I’ve been to their tenants union meetings, and I’ve seen the deal Weston Urban gave them, and it’s completely unacceptable,” Navarro said.

Weston Urban did not respond to the Current’s request for comment about what they plan to do with the Robert E. Lee, or if current tenants will be displaced.

Union Busting Tactics?

A paralegal student at San Antonio College, Navarro moved into the Robert E. Lee in September after the apartment complex she’d been living in burnt down. She stayed in a hotel down the street using money from her renter’s insurance while she waited for the Robert E. Lee’s management to process her application.

Although Weston Urban placed its bid on the Robert E. Lee on Aug. 13, Navarro said she wasn’t notified by management that the building could be sold when she signed her lease and paid her deposit. She added that she probably would have looked elsewhere if she had known about Weston Urban’s plans.

“The second night I’m here, I get told about this by another resident,” Navarro said. “So, I come downstairs the next morning to confront the leasing manager about it, and she says, ‘Oh yeah, well, you kind of fell into a grey area, so we didn’t think we really had to tell you.’”

After seeing headlines about City Council’s approval of the plan to demolish the Soap Factory, Navarro began organizing a tenants union. She contacted progressive group the Texas Organizing Project and left flyers at every single door to invite residents to the union’s first meeting.

Twenty-seven tenants showed up, many of whom had no idea about the building’s potential sale, according to Navarro. Others told her they saw management ripping the posters down, which she said could explain the meeting’s low turnout.

“The majority of the people that live here are elderly, and so they’re assuming that management is looking out for their best interest, and that’s why some of them are hesitant to speak with me, because the manager here told them ‘that girl’s going to get in trouble,’” Navarro said.

Megan Navarro, founder of the Robert E. Lee Tenants Union, speaks at a recent protest in front of Opportunity Home San Antonio. Credit: Michael Karlis

Three other Robert E. Lee tenants told the Current that they witnessed management employees ripping down posters advertising the union meeting.

“We’re not bringing people here to make a mess or create trouble,” wheelchair-bound Robert E. Lee tenant Javier Rey Hernaiz said. “We’re trying to understand what’s going on so we’re not tossed on the street.”

Hernaiz knows a thing or two about ending up on the street. He lived at Haven for Hope, the region’s largest homeless shelter, before the organization got him a place at the Robert E. Lee. Haven for Hope pays his rent at the Robert E. Lee, which he’s grateful for, but he said he’s not enthusiastic about the prospect of returning to the shelter.

On another occasion, management told Navarro that she had to have permission first before holding a meeting in the lobby, she maintains. Even so, there’s nothing explicitly written in her lease agreement that says tenants need permission from management to hold meetings.

“I’ve had lawyers look at this with me, and I’ve read my lease agreement,” she said. “I’ve had my professors look at this, and they give the typical disclosure that they can’t give me legal advice, but [they] say, ‘You can absolutely do what you’re doing.’”

Payment problems

Navarro and other Robert E. Lee tenants said they’re also concerned about a sudden and inexplicable change of the payment system made on Nov. 1 on how they’re able to pay rent. Residents of the apartments said the alteration makes it harder for those on government assistance to make their payments.

All 72 units at the Robert E. Lee meet the federal definition of low-income housing, according to state records, meaning that the majority of tenants receive some sort of government assistance.

Robert E. Lee management announced at the start of this month that the Walk-in Payment System, also known as WIPS, would no longer be accepted. Launched in 2013 by residential property management company Yardi Voyager, WIPS allows tenants to pay their rent, water and utility bills using cash.

Last month, the Robert E. Lee’s management told residents that the property will no longer accept WIPS payments for rent. Credit: Michael Karlis

As of Nov. 1, the Robert E. Lee only accepts rent via the online app MoneyGram and BILT, a Mastercard account that allows qualifying cardholders to earn rewards for paying their rent.

Most of Robert E. Lee’s tenants don’t qualify for BILT, according to Navarro. Meanwhile, paying rent via MoneyGram is easier said than done, she added.

“The problem then becomes, they don’t accept money orders, they don’t accept cash, they don’t accept checks,” Navarro said. “The other option is MoneyGram. Well, I’ve gone to Walgreens, and their MoneyGram is frequently down. The H-E-B on Presa Street does not have a business center, and a lot of these tenants have mobility issues. Most don’t own a car. So, how are they supposed to pay their rent?”

Indeed, Robert E. Lee tenant Daniel Ryan, who receives Social Security and other government aid, told the Current he’s been unable to pay his rent since the changeover.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Ryan said. “I guess I’ll take my money somewhere I can spend it.”

What’s Next?

Weston Urban’s offer is still pending, and it’s unclear how long it will take for the sale to go through. However, tenants who spoke to the Current are already mentally preparing to move out or potentially find themselves homeless.

“If Weston Urban buys this property, I’ll probably have to move back into my car,” said one tenant, who didn’t provide her name out of fear of retaliation.

Meanwhile, mobility-impaired Hernaiz, who can’t drive and doesn’t own a car, fears that he could end up living far outside of downtown. Being stuck in a place where he couldn’t access nearby necessities in his wheelchair would make his existence nearly impossible, he added.

Harnaiz points to the irony of the lack of affordable housing in San Antonio’s tourist-centric downtown: that economy can’t survive without working-class people living in the urban core.

“They want to make this part of town a playground for millionaires,” he said. “I’ve never heard of a doctor who works 14 hours at the hospital, then comes over, serves tables and washes some dishes at Pinkerton’s.”

Navarro said that she’s going to continue fighting for the tenants at the Robert E. Lee.

She said the tenants union, backed by nonprofits and at least one council member, do have a trick up their sleeve if RELEE Partners LP and JHM Financial Group LLC accept Weston Urban’s bid. However, she said she’s waiting until then to publicly disclose that plan.

“Everybody deserves a home, and for a lot of people here, they’ve lived here longer than I’ve been alive,” Navarro said. “I’m not going to let them get displaced.”

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This article appears in Nov 13-26, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...